A Cinderella Story: Nudge's Tale
by The-Fighter-In-Me-42
Summary: Nudge's mom died when she was young. Her father remarried, but then died of cancer, leaving Nudge alone with her stepmother and stepsister who treat her like a slave. Nudge is now seventeen, and looking forward to freedom, but will she survive her senior year? And will she fall in love along the way? Nudge is the new Cinderella. Niggy and Fax. Rated T cuz I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**Me: There are so many fanfictions about Max. And Fang. And Fax. Don't get me wrong. I love Fax. Like, with a burning passion. I personally feel that some of the other characters are left out sometimes from all the Max, Fang, and Fax fanfics. So I'm going to be weird and write A Cinderella story. But Max isn't Cinderella. Nudge is. And this is her story. (There might be a little Fax...)**

**Nudge: I can't wait! **

**I do not own Maximum Ride, and this is completely separate from the actual series. I don't own Harry Potter or Cinderella either.**

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_I remember this day. How could I forget? I was only seven. I was dressed in a sleek, yet cute, light pink dress. It had short sleeves that flowed off of my shoulders like silk. Small white flowers twisted around vines that rimmed the bottom of my skirt and sleeves and around my neckline. The front went down to about three inches below the base of my neck. It looked surprisingly good with my cocoa skin color. My hair was up in a ponytail, falling around my shoulders in curls. My dark side swept bangs were clipped to one side. I looked at myself in the mirror, and I thought that I looked cuter than normal. Well, that made sense. I had to dress like this today. After all, my dad was getting married. Her name was Anne. Anne Walker. Soon to be Anne Batchelder. I didn't like her. She was going to replace Mom. Mom died three years ago. She didn't seem like a bad person. But it was another story when it came to her daughter. Her name was Ella. Her age was seven like me. She treated me like I was trash that someone left on her lawn. Whenever she looked at me, her face got scrunched up and she spat out nasty words from her mouth. Her dress was the same as mine. It went nicely with her slightly tanned skin. Ella's dark brown hair was up in a half pony tail. It was curled like mine. We were both flower girls because no one wanted to make things awkward between the couple. I told Dad that Ella could do it, that I didn't need to. He just smiled and said that he wanted me to be part of the special day. We both grasped a white wicker basket filled with crimson rose petals. The color contrast was slightly unnerving. It looked like blood that was spilled on pure white snow. Or really dark fruit punch. Yeah, let's go with the punch. It looked like a little kid had spilled fruit punch while making a snowman. The comparison to blood was a little too gruesome. _

_I wasn't thinking all of this at the time. I was too busy wondering what would happen afterwards. I would have a much bigger family after all. I was brought out of my thoughts as the double doors swung inward and light music started. We started walking along the isle in time with the music, spreading the petals all around the white pathway. Dad stood at the end of the path, all dressed up for the occasion. He had a smooth black suit top with a white button up shirt underneath. His tie matched the rose petals that Ella and I were tossing from our baskets. The chairs were filled with so many grownup faces that stared at the doors, hoping for a glimpse of the bride. The only familiar faces that I saw was Max in a simple spaghetti strap, royal blue dress that complimented her skin tone and dirty blond hair, sitting with her mom, Dr. Martinez. She was wearing a scarlet. It went really well with her Hispanic complexion and her curly, dark brown hair. I always thought that she was pretty, but that day, she was stunning. We reached the end of the isle. I walked off to the left, next to where Anne would stand, one step below the maid of honor. Ella went to the left and stood a step below the best man. Then the real music started. Anne walked down the isle a bouquet of the same red roses in her hand, her sleeveless gown fitted perfectly around her curves. She had a thick ribbon of that red color tied around her waist, and a headband of the same color keeping the veil on her head. Anne picked to colors for everything, so I guess you can tell that she really likes red. She was beautiful, but there was a coldness about her. I looked around, but no one else seemed to notice. I caught Max's eye and she nodded that she felt it too. __The pastor was saying the usual speech about marriage, but the whole time, Dad only had eyes for Anne. I felt uneasy for some reason. Then the ending of the speech arrived._

_"Do you, Jeb Batchelder, take this woman to be you lawfully wedded wife?"_

_There was love in his eyes as he replied, "I do." The preacher turned his attention to Anne._

_"Do you, Anne Walker, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"_

_"I do."_

_"Then I pronounce you husband and wife," he turned back to Dad. "You may now kiss the bride." They kissed for a few seconds. It was long enough for someone in the crowd to whistle at them. When they broke apart, they were smiling at each other. My heart sank as I saw nothing good in Anne's smile. There was something sinister in it._

_Something evil..._

I woke up to my alarm clock buzzing. My arm shot out from underneath my covers. I groped around for the off button. I found it then practically slapped it off. I can't believe I dreamed about that day again. Why couldn't I dream about unicorns and lollipops? The worst part is that the dream was all true. My dad got married to an evil woman, then died of cancer four years later, leaving me with her and her devil spawn of a daughter. I was eleven when Anne got the brilliant idea to turn me into her personal slave, because at the age of eleven, the only family I had that actually cared about me died. I am seventeen now, and am still Anne's, and by extension, Ella's, personal slave. I thought slavery was illegal, but I guess my history teacher lied to me.

I looked at the clock. It read 7:13. I was a little late. I hopped out of bed. I put on a pair of jeans that I got because Ella didn't want them anymore. I receive a lot of her hand-me-downs. I personally saw nothing wrong with the jeans. The worked perfectly well for me. I put on an Old Navy t-shirt that was plum purple on the bottom and faded into a light blue on top. I pulled my hair into a quick ponytail. No time for styling, I was already late. I threw open the door to my room and raced down the hall as quietly as I could, strapping my cheap, plastic purple watch. I stopped outside Ella's room. Glancing down at my watch, I saw that the time was 7:29. I made it in time. Just a few more seconds...

As it clicked onto 7:30, Ella screamed, "Monique!" Right on schedule. I opened the door.

"Yes?" I asked, even though I knew what she wanted. She was propped up against her numerous pillows, all as soft as a cloud. I should know, I'm the one who makes her bed. She was dressed in her silk nightgown. Her circular shaped bed, only further showing how pampered she is, was obviously more comfortable than my spring mattress. Ella's entire room was decked out in various shades of pink and red. I like those colors, but not this much all at once. It was like a magazine picture, not at all what a normal teenager's room looked like.

"Get breakfast started. I don't want to be kept waiting for the first day," she said. Right. Because today was the first day of our senior year of high school. As I walked down the stairs, I thought about what consumed my thoughts most of the time: My future after I leave high school. Whatever my other options were, I was leaving this house. I was going to be free of all this. I just had to last one more year. Now, time to focus on making breakfast. I don't suppose a pop tart would suffice? Of course not. I got out a frying pan, slapped a small slab of butter on it, and turned the stove on. While that was melting, I got out the pancake mix and mixed enough for about four pancakes. I got another small frying pan and started up the pancakes. Going back to the buttered pan, I cracked some eggs into it. I was tempted to add in some shell for a little crunch, but I would probably be grounded for all eternity. I was scrambling the eggs with a spatula in my left hand, and flipping pancakes with a spatula in my right hand. I guess you could say that I've had a lot of practice over the years. When everything was done, I set the table for them. There were two plates on the dinning room table, each with warm pancakes and a small pile of eggs, by the time Anne and Ella came down to eat. The eggs, sadly, had no crunch. It's put the salt, pepper, syrup, and anything else they might ask for on the table. They sat down and started eating. Seeing that all was well, I went back to the kitchen. I quickly washed the dishes and popped two pieces of bread into the toaster. I jogged upstairs to get my backpack, and by the time I was back, my toast was ready. I went back into the dining room to collect all the food and dishes left over from breakfast. Putting the plates in the sink, I called to Anne,

"I'm going to school!" She walked into the kitchen.

"Don't yell," she said. "I'll have a list for you when school's over, so come straight home."

"Yes, Ma'am." I'd found out when I was twelve that calling Anne "Ma'am" seemed to put her in a good mood. I like her good moods. She leaves me alone when she's in one of them. I watched as Ella got into her dark red 2013 Chrysler Sebring Convertible that she got for her sixteenth birthday. For my sixteenth birthday, I got a pair of socks. Talk about a Harry Potter moment. Too bad Hagrid isn't coming to tell me that I'm a wizard and whisk me off the Hogwarts. I am stuck here for now. With that pleasant thought, I started walking. Luckily for me, as soon as Ella was out of sight, Max drove up in her sleek, 2012 black Ford Fusion. She always picked me up. Max didn't like to talk about how much money her mom makes, being a vetranarian and all, but we can just say that they lived comfortably. She rolled down her window.

"Hey, stranger. Need a ride?" she called. I smiled at that. She made that joke all the time, but she was the type of person who could retell a joke a million times, and it could still be funny.

"Well, if you insist," I replied jokingly.

I climbed into the passenger seat, and tossed my backpack into the backseat. Max was wearing her usual jeans and a plain t-shirt type of outfit.

"Max, it's the first day of school! Why couldn't I have picked out your outfit? With all the stuff in your closet, I could've completely transformed your look! You would've knocked some guys' socks off! I can picture it now, you walking through the hallway, so confident in your look that you make other girls jealous, and leave a trail of jaw-drops behind you wherever you walk,"

"Nudge!" She used my nickname as she fake gasped with shock. "Is there something wrong with the way I dress?" she asked, daring me to answer.

"Yes," I said without hesitation. "What you wear is shapeless. You need to wear something that shows off all of the curves that you hide by wearing baggy crap."

"Okay, you can dress me up like your personal Barbie doll, if you wear something to, as you put it, 'show off all of the curves that you hide'." I groaned.

"Ella would make my life go even further into heck if I tried to look pretty, and you know that." Max shrugged.

"I guess I won't be your Barbie then," she said in an almost convincing regretful tone. Just then, we pulled up to Hedge Grove High School. The final year of being in high school was starting. I just hope it goes by quickly and smoothly.

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**That is the end of chapter 1. Should I do a chapter two? Please tell me what you think. And I am not aware of a real Hedge Grove High School, but if there is one, and you go to it, more power to ya. Sorry that Ella's bad, but she's the only stepsister that I could think of. I couldn't use Lissa or Dr. Wonderful cuz Fang isn't Nudge's prince charming. So, yeah, sorry.**

**Stay awesome and fly on,**

**Fighter**


	2. Chapter 2

**Me: Sorry if this is published a little late. I was working on my other story. And I'm lazy. Hey, it's summer! Let lazy people be lazy people. They're going to be lazy anyway! Anyway, here's chapter two. Iggy can see. I've never taken theatre so sorry if it's not accurate. I own nothing but my laptop.**

**Max: Enjoy! Ha, she thinks she owns her laptop...**

**Me: What?!**

Nudge POV

We were sitting in Max's car gathering up our stuff, when I noticed Ella sitting in her convertible, the top drawn back. She was touching up on her makeup using the rearview mirror to look at herself. Her lip gloss shimmered whenever she tuned her head to inspect all angles of her makeup. I sunk down in my seat so Ella wouldn't see me. Once she was satisfied that enough makeup was on her face, Ella opened her car door and stepped out. She was wearing black boots that buckled up the side over designer skinny jeans. Her shirt matched her car, and cling to her form tightly. What's with my stepfamily and the color red? It was everywhere! Red dishes, and red cars. Don't get me started on the red themed parties that my oh-so-popular stepsister throws almost every weekend. Red is a great color, but a girl can only take so much of it before her head explodes. Max noticed me shrinking into my seat.

"You can't avoid her forever," Max warned. "You need to loosen up."

Snorting in what I'm sure was an attractive way, I said, "Sure, once I move away from the demons I am required to call 'family'."

"Well," she said, patting me on the shoulder. "One more year." We got out of the car and walked up the steps to the doors.

"Do we have any classes together?" I asked.

"Hmm, let's see." Max took my schedule and compared it to hers.

"Well?" I asked impatiently.

"We have language arts, theatre, and athletics together. Sorry Nudge, you're on your own for the other four classes." I groaned. Normally we had all but one or two classes together.

"What's first period?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"Ah-ha! We're in luck, theatre is first."

"Luck? I'm not good at acting, or dancing, or standing out, basically, I'm not a theatre person," I complained.

"It is luck, because we have our first class together. Plus, you don't know if you're a good actress or not. You've never taken theatre before."

We walked toward our lockers to put our backpacks away. Finding locker number 1596, I entered in the combination 14-28-8 and pulled up on the latch. It swung open and I dug my binder out from inside my backpack before hanging up the backpack on a little hook at the top of the locker. Max was a few lockers down, doing the same thing as I was. She slammed the door on hers and walked back towards me.

"What did your locker ever do to you?" I asked.

"It wouldn't accept my combination the first time," she said simply. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's go to theatre."

We arrived at the stage, and everyone was standing around talking to friends. Then I saw him. He had strawberry blond hair that hung down near his eyes which were shockingly bright blue. He was tall and skinny, but you could tell by the way that he carried himself that he wasn't a wimp, and would have confidence in a fight. He had on a plain white t-shirt and some old jeans. He made it look like he was modeling. Mr. Mysterious was joking around with two other guys of about the same body build. One looked like he was Goth, wearing ebony skinny jeans, with chains and everything, and, you guessed it, a black t-shirt. His black hair was cut to cover one dark brown eye. The other guy had soft blond hair and eyes that were such a light blue that they were almost hazel. He had on a striped blue and white shirt on, and cargo shorts. All in all, an attractive group. The one that drew my attention the most was the strawberry blond one. I noticed Ella at that moment. She was staring at the same group of guys that I was. At the same guy. He noticed me looking in his direction. He smiled and gave a small wave. The others looked in my direction to see what was going on. I blushed and stared at the floor. I did not like the attention. I glanced up through my nose length side bangs. Ella's eyes were shooting daggers into me. I turned towards Max.

"What are those guys doing now? Please tell me they went back to their conversation," I whispered to her.

"I could, but I'd be lying. They're coming this way. Incoming! Oh, Ella is going to be ticked! This is awesome," Max said excitedly.

"Yeah, you don't have to live with her," I replied. "Please get them to go away,"

"No can do, Nudge my friend, they are coming whether we like it or not," Max said cheerily. And then they were in front of us. The strawberry blond one spoke first.

"Hey, my name's James. You can call me Iggy." I was shocked into speaking.

"Iggy?" He smiled.

"Long story," the other blond one cut in. "We should tell you sometime. I'm Gazzy by the way,"

"Gazzy?" this time is was Max who spoke.

"Yeah," Iggy said. "And Mr. Silent over there is Nick, also known as Fang to his friends."

"Hardly silent," Fang said. "I just picky on who I choose to talk to."

"Not to mention the obvious or anything, but you guys have really strange nicknames," I said, getting more comfortable talking with the group of guys. "I mean, where do all of them come from?"

"We might tell you someday, but don't be all mysterious. What about your names?" Gazzy asked.

"I'm Max, sorry, no special nickname," Max told them.

"I'm Monique," I said.

"Call her Nudge, it's what I call her," Max put in.

"And you say that we have weird nicknames!" Iggy joked.

Just then, the teacher walked in. She was plump and cheery. She wasn't very tall, I was taller than and her cinnamon colored hair was tied up in a bun. I looked at my schedule and saw that her name was Ms. Jones. She was smiling brightly as she introduced herself. Her brightly colored floral print dress suited her personality, or at least how I'd interpreted her personality. Ms. Jones gave me a good feeling. I guess her joyous mood was contagious. I caught sight of Ella out of the corner of my eyes, with a slight frown on her face. I guess the happiness wasn't contagious to everyone.

"...and welcome to theatre arts!" she was saying. "You'll learn what goes into making a production; the set, the technology, and of course, the acting. At the end of the year, we'll be putting on a play. We'll vote on what play it will be in a few weeks, then have auditions."

Well, I was for sure not going to audition for that. Even if it did seem fun...

"Now, since it's the first day," Ms. Jones went on. "I'll let you people go around and introduce yourselves to one another. No need to get down into the actual schoolwork so early in the year." Everyone else

"Does that mean we have to introduce ourselves again?" Max asked me.

"Sure," I replied. I stuck my right hand out. "Hello, my name's Nudge. nice to meet you." Max took my hand with hers and shook it.

"Hi Nudge, I'm Max," she said as we shook hands. Iggy and Gazzy burst out laughing, and Fang was chuckling too. Soon we were all reintroducing ourselves to each other. I was face to face with Iggy, laughing too much to talk. Finally, I was calming down. He was still chuckling when all of a sudden, all I could see was long, dark hair. Namely: the back of Ella's head. All humor from the situation left me at that moment.

"Hey," she said, trying to sound seductive. "I'm Ella Batchelder. You can call me Ella." I hate it when she uses Dad's last name. As far as I was concerned, she was, and always will be, a Walker. Not a Batchelder. I kept those thoughts to myself though.

"I'm James. You can call me Iggy," he replied, oblivious to her advances. Ella seemed frustrated for a moment, but she got over it before anyone else could notice. Moving closer to him, she placed a perfectly manicured hand on his chest.

"I'd like to get to know you, James," she whispered in his ear. There she goes again. I rolled my eyes and backed away. Seeing Gazzy talking to another group of guys, I went over to Max, who was in a deep conversation with Fang about kickboxing.

"I seriously think that a tornado kick is one of the most impressive knock outs you can do," Max was saying.

"Not really," Fang replied. "Some people make it too obvious. There are easier ways to knock a person unconscious," Fang protested.

"That's what makes it so impressive when it actually does work!" Max exclaimed. I didn't want to interrupt them, so I turned to go somewhere else just as the bell rang. I backed off so that I wasn't trampled by the herd of students stampeding to their next class. Glancing at my schedule, I saw that I had math next. Max wasn't going to be there. That was going to make this a lot worse. Oh, well. According to my schedule, we'd see each other again in fourth period athletics. Taking a deep breath, I entered the madness of the hallway. _Room 209, room 211, room 213...ah. Room 215. _Entering the classroom, I saw Iggy sitting on a desk chatting with some random guy. I think I'd seen him sometime during first period.

Noticing me, Iggy smiled and said, "So we meet again."

"I guess we do," I replied.

"Our conversation ended abruptly earlier," he commented.

"Yeah, that's Ella for you," I muttered.

"You know her?" he asked.

"Well, she's kind of my step-" I was interrupted by the door opening as the teacher walked in.

"Hello class," she said in a nasally voice. "My name is Ms. Wrathburn." Just then, Ella walked in.

"Sorry I'm late Ms. Wrathburn, I got lost," Ella said. Total crap, if you ask me. How can you go to a school for three years, and still get lost? She was either up to something, or I'm getting too suspicious for my own good. Or both.

"Yes, yes. Well, sit down," Ms. Wrathburn said. Ella sat down in the empty seat in front of Iggy, glancing at him and smirking before sitting down.

"Like I was saying," the teacher went on. "my name is Ms. Wrathburn. I believe in starting the year the way the rest of the year is going to go. With work." Many students groaned at this, earning a disapproving stare in return. She handed out a review worksheet for algebra. I loved that subject. I was great at it. I stared at the paper in triumph as Ms. Wrathburn went back to her desk. My eye kept straying in Iggy's direction. He seemed normal, but his shoulders were slightly tensed and he was fidgeting, showing his discomfort at doing math. I suppose math isn't his strong subject. I struggled from boredom through the duration of class before the bell finally rang, releasing me from the silent prison.

Science was next. Now this one was not my favorite subject. I was all right at it. Good enough to pass, but imagine the surprise on my face when Iggy walked into the classroom about fifteen seconds after I did, and Ella came in about five seconds after him. This was starting to get slightly creepy.

Mr. Martin walked in.

"Hey, class. We're going to play a game," our new science teacher said. The way the game worked was that the first person said their name. The next person would repeat the first person's name, then add their own. It would go down the rows, the list of names to repeat growing longer with each person who added to it.

It started with Ella saying her name. I had unwisely picked the desk back corner to sit in, so I was the last person to play. When it was my turn, I racked my memory and started listing off the names. I actually did it. My stomach growled loudly, but was thankfully masked by the bell ringing even louder. Lunch time.

**Yeah. So, what play do you think they should perform? Review your answers, please. Your review can change the course of my storyline. I like to know my readers' thoughts.**

**Fly on,**

**Fighter**


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